The Brotherhood
by SeasonedOpTech018
Summary: The battle between good and evil is about to change. Chris and Wyatt and the destinies that follow. Please Just Read!
1. Chapter 1

**The Brotherhood**

Disclaimer: I don't own anything save a cat (Lucifer) and an ancient computer. I can only fantasize like us all about the sexiness of the charmed sons. Plug for a TVquel.

_1x01-_ He do what Shedu

- -

_- The Triad was afraid of this. _He thought as he watched through the open window. Summer was ending and a calm cool breeze flew in through the house gently. His eyes scanned the exposed rooms.

He could see the blonde man coming down the stairs fussing with his hair. The red head singing along with the radio as she poured a bowl of cereal in the kitchen. Then there was the brunette male walking out the door in a rush, pushing past the pair of dark brunettes sipping coffee on the steps. _The Halliwells. The next generation. _"Damn." he muttered as he watched the completely oblivious witches.

"This should be easy."

The voice behind him made him want to shiver and that said a lot. "It's never easy." he muttered. "That's why they have such a long name." Nomed turned to the demon who had joined him. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to make sure we don't get caught."

Nomed shrugged smiling. "And how are you planning that?" In the blink of an eye, the pair disappeared.

- At the steps of the mansion, the two girls talked amongst themselves oblivious. "Well?" asked Melinda. She was sporting white boy shorts and a tattered Aerosmith tee.

The other was clad in a spaghetti strap top and pink flannel PJ pants. "Well what?"

"Abby. What's the deal?" Melinda sipped her coffee. "Is she staying?"

Penelope shrugged. "Where would you have her go?" she asked a little offended.

"I love her, but if she's gonna stay, that means she'll need a room. Not just a cot in the corner."

There was a pause. Penelope looked over across the street. Something felt off, but she shrugged it off as stress. "Is there room for her?"

Melinda frowned. "I need to move some stuff around, but…maybe."

Pulling herself abruptly, yet gracefully to a standing position Penelope turned to Melinda and looked down. "She's family, Mel. Move the damned stuff."

Melinda shook her head as she stood and watched her cousin move up the steps to the door. "Why's it gotta be 'the damned stuff', huh?" she muttered angrily despite her smiling.

- Across town, a young boy about 15 emerged from a small one story home smack dab between two big apartment buildings. The sounds of a man and a woman screaming at each other poured through the walls. He shook his head as he turned on his music player and stuffed it into his pocket. With a backpack sitting lazily on his shoulder, he turned .

Passing a dirty alleyway, he glanced at his watch and cursed under his breath. Turning and jogging into the alleyway, he lost himself in the shadows. From the street, a scream rang out but is covered by the ringing of a car alarm. No one notices.

- -

- The high school was packed. It was the first day back and most of the students had been able to lazily rise out of bed and walk into the school. Many looked like they had literally done just that.

Chris grunted as he realized he was out of coffee. "Great." he muttered. He looked down the hall to his office. _I just have to make it there. _He thought desperately as he pushed through the hoards of kids.

The principal was waiting inside when he finally made it_. Great. _He muttered in his head. "Hey Chris." He helped by taking a pile of folders that Chris had balanced from the main office on his fist.

"Hey Paul." The name felt weird seen as the man had been the principal during his stay at the institution. Both he and Wyatt had attended their entire career. Melinda, on the other hand, had been expelled and forced to go to St. Mary's, a catholic girls school that she had indeed turned upside down.

Paul watched as Chris unloaded his bags beside the desk and his papers onto it. "I know you're going to be busy today. Schedule changes will make you suicidal for the first few weeks." he said with a joking smile. "Once you get through that, though, you've survived the worst of it."

Chris shot him the patented Halliwell charm smile. "Thanks for the heads up." Paul left at some point in the next few minutes, but Chris barely noticed as he turned to log onto his computer.

- At the manor, Melinda had dragged Wyatt up to the attic. The place was filled with, for lack of a better word, crap. The book stood on it pedestal surrounded by boxes. "Lets get to work." Melinda said as she chewed on a power bar.

Wyatt shook his head. "You said that way to chipper."

Laughter. Melinda found a stereo and shoved in a Nina Simone CD. Bobbing her head acceptingly, She approached a mountain of boxes. "You are my Everest." she muttered softly tossing her wrapper into a nearby trash can.

- Coming out of a shoe store down town, Abby and Penelope laughed at a joke they had just cracked about the sales woman. Abby's hands were filled with job application forms. Penelope sobered. "Want to get some lunch?" she asked motioning to a nearby café.

Abby nodded, still smiling. "Sure." They went in and were immediately seated. "Not many people."

"Considering it's lunch hour." Penelope concluded. "So…what's the scoop."

"Scoop?" Abby looked confused as she rolled the papers and stuck them into her bag.

Penelope picked up a menu and scanned it. "You're getting a job, obviously. Why here?" _Guy?_

Abby smirked. "I'm going out on a limb here, but I'm guessing you already know that."

Penelope shrugged. _Of course. _"Well, I am a cupid." She paused. "You planning on moving in with him?"

It was Abby's turn to shrugged as she picked up her menu. "He hasn't asked yet."

"Melinda's going to move some stuff around so that we can set you up downstairs." Penelope's thoughts rested on the basement.

Melinda had done quite a job with it. Part of it was still used as a training room. The corner she had declared as hers had band posters for bands like Queens Of The Stone Age, Rammstein, and Pearl Jam. The wall was also adorn with photos of her and her friends from high school. Many of them had Penelope in them as well, she had followed Melinda to St. Mary's as a teen. They had grown up best friends.

She suddenly felt a little bad for Abby. Abby was only a few years younger than the girls, but they hadn't been close enough to get the same bond. _Maybe that'll change. _

- Wyatt held up yet another old worn teddy bear. "Wanna get rid of this one?"

Melinda was sitting on the floor with her hair pulled up and dust on her face. She sighed. "Yes Wyatt. I said trash em all."

Wyatt shrugged and tossed it into a trash bag. "So what, you don't see kids in your future?"

Melinda rolled her eyes. "I don't see the future, Wyatt." she replied smartly.

"Very funny." he muttered.

She saw it half a second before she screamed. The fire ball coming straight for her.

- -

- Abby and Penelope ducked behind a dumpster with a demon at their heels. Scorch marks appeared on the wall behind them as the fireballs the two had evaded hit it. "Shit." Abby muttered. "What do we do?"

"Fight." The word barely escaped before the dumpster disappeared, barreling out of the way revealing four smirking demons. "Shit."

- Melinda was vaguely aware that she was still alive and thankful for that as her instincts kicked in. Wyatt had orbed them both behind the couch, but the mass of fireballs kept him from sneaking out and kicking some demon ass.

Wyatt muttered curses in French as Melinda froze a set of fireballs above her head. Then she immediately turned and used her levitation power to help pick up the couch and toss it across the room at the three demons. When she'd done that, she stood seeing that the demons were pinned down and that her face was right in front of the still frozen fireballs. She ducked as they came to life.

Her brother was up now and the scorch marks on the floor told her he had taken care of them. She looked around the destroyed room. "Great. So much for organizing the attic." She stared at the floor now littered with burnt or burning items.

- Abby ducked behind another dumpster as Penelope stopped two fireballs hurling at her and sent them back to their original demons. _Two down… _

Suddenly, an astral Abby appeared behind a third demon. The forth noticed her and sent a fireball at her. She disappeared and the fireball hit the third demon.

Penelope watched as astral Abby appeared again and wrapped her arms around the demon's neck. It snapped by the time Penelope got to her. Her projection disappeared and she climbed out from her hiding place. "Can we go home?" she asked a little shakily. Penelope laughed a little and nodded. "Sure." She noticed a small stream of blood falling from Abby's hairline. "You're bleeding." she mentioned conversationally.

"Hit my head on the wall."

- _Finally. _He thought to himself_. Coffee. _Chris finally had a pee break. It was getting to him a little. _Was I that petty in high school?_ He'd thought that one over a million times that day.

The teacher's lounge was pretty empty. The acoustics were just right that he could sit on one end and still eavesdrop on the conversation the women on the other. "The police made an appointment with Principal Snyder."

"Why?"

"The news said that all the kids went here. One of them, Mitchell Warner, was in one of my classes."

"Jesus." Chris was up and at the door now. "What kind of monster gets off on taking high school kids?"

He pulled out his cell phone. "Mel?" Pause. "I need your help."

- Wyatt was upset. He had told her not to see that inspector guy anymore months ago. Melinda was upset. She had told Wyatt to stay out of it months ago, days ago, hours ago. "He's no good for you and you know it, so why go out with him."

"Great sex." she spat out bitingly as she shrugged on a coat. Wyatt looked like he was going to be sick. "It's my life, not yours. It's my business, not yours. Figure out things with the elders and I'll be back soon."

"Who says they'll know."

Melinda shot him a comforting smile. "They always do." She paused. "Make sure Penny and Abby are okay before you go, though. I have a feeling."

Wyatt crossed his arms. "So do I. I don't think you should be seeing this guy."

"Stop calling him 'this guy'. His name is Zach." She took her keys from the table by the front door. "See ya." she called as she escaped.

Wyatt groaned as Penelope and Abby appeared behind him in a fit of orbs. "Guess what we did today." Penelope muttered with sarcastic happiness.

- "It's sad, you know. I mean they're just kids…" Zach droned on and on. Emotional pressures of the job, yada yada yada. _Wyatt was right. _Melinda cringed at the thought. Zach was depressing and draining, but they did have great sex_. I can have great sex by my damned self. This isn't worth it. _She tried to look interested in what he was saying.

"They disappeared in the same area? Why didn't the news mention that?"

Zach shrugged. "Chief left it out of the press conferences. It's the only lead we have to catch this guy."

"But, you could warn the public. Otherwise it looks like you're using us as bait."

Zach shrugged again. "We warn the public, he moves business to another part of town or worse out of town, then we may never catch him." He took a sip of his drink. "There's a profiler coming in from the FBI to help, who knows? Maybe he can."

- -

- "Are you going to tell us what's going on?" Penelope asked as she joined Abby who had taken it upon herself to pick up the attic.

Chris stared at the book carefully. "What?"

"You've been in the book for hours." Abby contributed. She dumped a dust pan filled with ash into a waiting basket.

He looked up momentarily. "What demons attacked you?" he asked changing the subject.

Penelope shrugged. "Minion demons. Wyatt went up to the Elders to see what's going on."

"And Mel is on a dinner date?"

"Lunch." Penelope said.

"What difference does that make?" Chris asked absently.

Abby opened her mouth to explain but Penelope shook her head at Abby. Chris didn't notice. No one spoke again until Melinda walked in. "Police think it's a serial…killer, rapist, or something, but he doesn't fit any normal profile." Melinda looked around at the work Abby had done impressed as she made her way to Chris and the book. "The only link between the victims is location."

Chris looked up. "Location?"

"Same relative area."

"So, what is it?"

Melinda pushed Chris gently out of the way and flipped the book to a specific page. "A Shedu."

"What's a Shedu?" Abby asked.

- Penelope had volunteered to stay behind and clean. Abby worked on the potion downstairs with Chris while Melinda had scryed for the demon. Now the three stood at the location the crystal had said. "You said they like dark dirty places?" Abby confirmed.

"Nope. Just said it for my amusement." Melinda joked, smiling.

Chris shook his head as they started down the alleyway.

- The attic was finally clean-ish. The floor still had scorch marks and the couch was a lost cause. Since most of the stuff had been destroyed, almost all of it got thrown out. It looked empty. _That isn't exactly bad._

Suddenly, in a whirl of orbs, Wyatt appeared in front of her. "Where is everybody?"

Penelope ignored the question. "What did you find out?"

Wyatt glanced at the broken and burnt couch still in the corner. "Maybe you should sit down."

- One thing the book didn't mention was that the demons could fly. Melinda tried to freeze them, but they moved too fast. Abby threw two bottles of potions before she realized she couldn't hit them.

It was Chris that was able to slow it all down. He called for the little bird demons using his tele-orbing, that resembled his Aunt Paige, and sent them flying into the corner. Melinda froze the confused bunch and Abby threw the last remaining potion.

The burst of fire brightened the night reminding Chris of a vague, blurry dream. "Let's go home."

"I'm hungry." Melinda muttered. The way her voice sounded in the night make Chris chuckle. He and Abby orbed her home.

- Second's before the trio appeared, Penelope stared at Wyatt. "Are you saying evil is destined to gain the upper hand?"

The three appeared carrying KFC boxes. Chris had a goofy smile on his face. "We got chicken!" he said laughing.

"Or something that tastes like it." Melinda said as she chewed on a drumstick.

"Very lady like." Abby commented as she handed her bag to Penelope. "I gotta pee."

- -

A/N: What do you think??

**R&R. Tell me what you think. I'll try to incorporate your thoughts.**

- -


	2. Chapter 2

**The Brotherhood**

Disclaimer: I don't own anything save a cat (Lucifer) and an ancient computer. I can only fantasize like us all about the sexiness of the charmed sons. Plug for a TVquel.

_1x02-_ Reminisce

- -

_- _The kitchen was busy. Abby busied herself with figuring out the coffee pot. A stain was already disgracing her white tee. Chris was late, again. He kept popping in and out of the room. Wyatt was leisurely cooking bacon and eggs for everybody. He kept cracking his neck which seemed to annoy Melinda as she came up from the basement. Penelope was studying the newspaper at the table. Melinda was itching her elbow absently as she made her way to the fridge. She reached in and grabbed the orange juice.

"I don't want eggs." she mentioned.

Wyatt nodded. "Just bacon." He reached over to the microwave and pulled out a plate already piled high with bacon slices. "Got it." He smiled as he handed the plate to a very happy Melinda. "Happy hunting."

Melinda grabbed the plate with eagerness as Penelope passed her. "Don't forget to feed your damned cat?" she said casually as she folded the paper and set it on the island.

"Why's it got to be the 'damned cat'? Melinda scoffed in mock offense.

Penelope rolled her eyes and looked at Wyatt. "What are you dressed up for?"

"Lawyer. Mom's signing half the restaurant over to me today. Where are you going?" Wyatt asked.

"Seminar for my Women's Studies class."

"Kay." Wyatt turned away from the stove. "What the hell is 'Women's Studies'? They teach you how to use tampons, right?" he asked sarcastically.

Abby pointed discreetly at the pan causing a single flame to flicker over the edge and ignite the oils as Penelope laughed. "Bacon's on fire." she mentioned nonchalantly.

"Jesus! He cried out as she turned to leave. Penelope was grinning like a mad man as she walked out the front door hearing Wyatt cry out, "Get a goddamned fire extinguisher!"

- Nomed stood in the corner of the cave, not out of fear, but to observe the whole. The underworld had been rebuilt. If this prophecy was any indication. Evil was about to get the upper hand. He watched as the new source conducted what served as a sort of morale booster or press conference.

He was a powerful being to begin with. His appearance was striking. He was the kind of bad boy guy girls would love. _Just one problem._ He thought to himself. The source's eyes were dead and cold. This wasn't unusual, but for some reason, it unsettled Nomed. It unsettled many other demons as well, but their fears seemed to only strengthen their loyalty to him.

The source spoke. He was reading the prophecy in the original Greek.

«Και μετά από το χρόνο των γοητειών η αδελφοσύνη θα αυξηθεί και η μάχη θα αλλάξει Η κατώτερη φυλή θα τρέξει στο φόβο καθώς η αδελφοσύνη προκύπτει Αλλά μια από την κληρονομιά των γοητειών θα απειλήσει αυτό Και θα πεθάνει»

No med watched with interest. As the demons screamed for Wyatt to die. The twice-blessed son was the obvious choice, but like the eyes, the prophecy struck a chord with Nomed. He doubted it would be very easy.

- -

- "Bogart." Melinda called as she descended the stairs. A gray and black tiger striped cat appeared at the bottom of the stairs. He looked up at her with a look that basically said that she was interrupting him.

He had appeared when she was about five. She was obsessed with the movie Casablanca. She'd watched it with her father the day before, hence the name Bogart. Her parents had let her keep him after he followed her around town for an entire day.

"Want a cookie?" she asked holding out a cat treat. The cat rolled his eyes and walked lazily away. "Fine." she bit out in mock anger. Shrugging, Melinda moved to her room. It wasn't really a room, more like a corner.

She looked across the room at the corner she had set up for Abby. She was sleeping on a cot until she could get around to buying a bed, but Abby had definitely put her own touch on the area. One word described it. _Pink._

Melinda hated a lot of pink. She was tempted to throw darts at the posters of pop stars _dis-_gracing the wall. _Ugh._

- Abby orbed into the strange apartment. Her new charge had just left for work. _A waitress. A waitress who likes, no loves Pink Floyd. _Abby was in awe of all the records and CDs she had. _The Doors. The Cult. "Damn." No way I'm connecting on music. _

She moved to the bedroom. And opened the closet doors. "Boots!" she cried excitedly. She immediately berated herself. _Focus. _On the nightstand, a business card for a Albert's Plumbing sat atop and open yellow pages. _No good with tools. _

In the kitchen, she found her in. _Empty disposable coffee cups, five different types of coffees, a well used coffee maker, a promos for events at a local coffee shop, Starbucks souvenirs. Yep that should do it._

- "Geez." Melinda muttered as she dialed the number again. _Where is he? _She thought idly. She was making a breakthrough with her painters block and wanted to cancel their movie date.

Finally, he picked up. _Hundredth time's the charm. _"Inspector Riggins"

"Hey Zach. It's Mel."

"Hey. I have to cancel tonight."

_Wait what? _"Oh. What happened? Is something wrong."

Zach sighed on the other end. "No Just a really bad case. It's all really weird. It looks like all these people are committing suicide, but then there is corpse mutilation. I don't know what kind of sicko would do this kind of stuff…" She stopped listening until he said the magic words. "…drawing occultist symbols on the skin. It's sick-"

"What kind of symbols?"

Zach paused and she heard a rustling of papers and some distant chatter. "Demon and devil type stuff, pentagrams and things like that. Have you ever heard of Mendes Pentacle?"

Melinda stilled. "No." She had. She just couldn't place it."

"Medical examiner said that was the symbol carved into the forehead. Though I don't know how he could tell. Looked like hamburger to me." _Thank you. No McD's for me._

"I have to go, k? I'm meeting my brother for lunch."

"Sure. Call you later. I love you." She'd already hung up.

- The woman in front of him was incredibly stunning and scantily clad. It didn't phase him. After all, he was used to beautiful demons and now that he had become the source, they all answered to him. Still, he sent her an appreciative smile for her benefit and stepped in front of her. "Go forth," he said, "and create utter madness."

She smiled and nodded her head. When she raised her face, he kissed her. It was more angrily than the passion she mistook it for. _So sad. _He thought. _To lose such a bad demon to such a good force. _Still, if he had any chance to defeat the Halliwells, sacrifices had to be made.

- Melinda stood in front of the book still in her paint splattered overalls. She had just found it. The name was written in the gothic alphabet. "Ariel." Suddenly, a shift in the air. She couldn't scream. As she passed out in pain, she was vaguely aware that the book had fallen from the pedestal. _Damn._

- -

- _God, this was a bad idea. _She thought angrily to herself as the lady on stage droned on. _Why did I sit in the front? _She looked down at the notepad that sat empty. _She's only saying stuff I already know._ Penelope sat back, bored out of her mind. _God help me._

- The house was quiet. Wyatt dropped his keys on the table beside the drawer. He wasn't really angry, just irritated. She always did this. Made a breakthrough, she'd say. Painting was everything to her. He understood it. He felt the same way with the restaurant. He was still pissed that his mother hadn't gone through with the signing. But, that didn't mean she couldn't call.

Jogging down the steps, he called down to her. "Mel?" _No Melinda. Hmm. _A meow caught his attention. Bogart sat pretty on the stool in front of the canvas. During the call, Melinda had scraped the pentacle from her mind, into the canvas. "Shit." he muttered bounding across the room and up the steps. He grabbed the phone from the island. "Shit. Shit. Shit." he chanted.

- Abby had picked up the book on the way to the café. It was the one book on her shelf that look most worn and the inscription said it all. It was actually pretty good. 'The Iron Woman' was pretty good, considering it made Abby want to lay a beat down on the main character. She was indecisive, irrational, and a complete fool. "Ruled by your goddamned emotions." Abby muttered under her breath.

"That's why I love it." Her charge sat down in front of her. "First time reading it?"

Abby nodded, scared that it was this easy. "Yeah. My friend recommended it. She's a bit…out there."

The girls lips clenched for a moment in thought. "Sounds smart." she decided with a smile. She held out her hand. "Carrie."

"Abby" Carrie burst out laughing at what Abby said next. "Nice hair." With the wind outside, Carrie looked amazingly like 'Carrie White' from, the appropriately named movie, Carrie. The pair talked for quite a while after that.

- Chris was holding the phone and glaring at the door as if daring a student to hassle him at that very moment. His desk was a mess and his eyes showed much more than confusion. Wyatt's voice was loud and clear on the line. "Okay. Just slow down." He moved to his keyboard and brought up a search site. "What did it look like?"

Wyatt was flipped. Pacing the kitchen he had just started putting together a potion. He wasn't really paying attention, but he had to do something. "A pentacle with a ram or some kind of deer in it I think."

Wyatt could hear Chris tapping away at his keyboard and asking an eager student to wait outside a moment. "Could it be a goat?" Chris asked.

The brunette stared at the computer screen while waiting for his brother's answer. A breathless "Yes," came over the line.

"Mendes pentacle. Check the book and see if you can find anything. I'll check the net some more and call if I find something."

Wyatt nodded. "Kay." The call was cut off by Chris first. He had a job to do. Wyatt bounded up the stairs intent on finding out what happened.

When he saw the book on the floor, he almost cried. Now, he knew something was up. It wasn't coincidence anymore, but what was?

- She felt like she was sleeping on the damp ground. When she opened her eyes though, she focused on the rug beneath her. _Attic. _Sitting up, she looked around. She was tied up she tried to free herself. She heard voices and cried out for help. When Chris appeared in the door she almost pissed herself in delight. "Chris! Thank god!"

He was followed by a chick in a short white skirt. Melinda was tempted to mutter 'skank', but she was more worried about why Chris wasn't paying any attention to her. "What if they find out who I really am?" he was asking.

"Chris! Help me!" Melinda yelled.

"They won't. Not as long as you can pass yourself off as their whitelighter" The skank said.

Melinda struggled on the floor. "Bet that skirt glows in the dark." she grumbled.

"And you're sure I won't lose my powers when I go back?" _Go back where? _Melinda thought to herself.

"Not with this spell, that's why we need it. Look, just remember, protect baby Wyatt and you protect the Charmed Ones. Keep them alive for our future."

_What the hell? _"Chris!" He kept chatted with the skank and Melinda groaned. "For the love of god!"

"Baby, you have to make it back. If you wanna marry me." the skank said.

Melinda scoffed. "Cuz that's gonna happen. Aww. Get a room!" She struggled against the ropes.

Chris smiled. "You really know how to motivate a guy, you know that?"

"Oh please." Melinda huffed. "Help!" she screamed as the pair engaged in magic tricks. "Wyatt! Help!"

- -

- Wyatt was at the end of his rope when Chris appeared at the doorway. "Anything?" he asked hopefully.

Chris shook his head. "I'm guessing 0 for 2?"

Wyatt looked down at the book. "It was on the floor."

"What?" Wyatt looked up and Chris understood. "The book." It wasn't a question. "Let have a wack at it. If it's demonic, why don't you try going down to the underworld, try to sense her."

Wyatt bobbed his head in acceptance as he orbed out.

- As Chris jumped through a portal in the wall, Wyatt appeared. Melinda didn't see how he had arrived in a flurry of black orbs. "Oh thank god!" Melinda paused. "What'd you do to your hair?"

"Hello Bianca." he spoke in a low voice that sent shivers down the two girls spines.

Melinda shrugged it off. "I just call her skankbag." she interjected.

Wyatt continued, leering at Bianca. "Nice skirt."

Bianca shrugged cockily. "I do my best." Suddenly she ducked to evaded the electric ball Wyatt had thrown. "What the hell, Wyatt!" He wasn't paying attention either. _Wonderful._

As much fun as it was to see skankbag get her ass kicked, Melinda decided to block out the whole scene and rolled to a wall. Feeling the cold hard wall behind her, she set about trying to seriously rid herself of the hogtie. Meanwhile, she called out for help, figuring that eventually someone would hear her. _Or something. _She thought with shivers running up and down her spine.

- He couldn't sense her. Nothing. "Damn it!" He yelled out as he turned quickly to punch the wall, the wall of stone. _Smart move. _He thought to himself as his hand screamed in pain.

Suddenly, he felt a wave of sympathy flow over him. He turned to his right. With a frown, he moved down the hall wondering if he had just hallucinated the hint of jasmine in the air.

- He saw it. The pendant on the neck of the drawing. It was a woman, her name above her in gothic letters. "Ariel." he whispered. Chris hurried to his feet. He had a potion to make.

- Wyatt could hear screaming in the distance. _Melinda. _Running, down the corridor, he could hear the screaming getting louder. Now he could make out the screams. "Chris! Wyatt! Chris! Ahh! Wyatt!"

Turning the corner, he had the advantage, the demon had his, no her back to him. He saw Melinda struggling against the binding ropes on the ground. She was dirty, tired, and screaming his name. She was also in some kind of trance. She was looking right at him, but it was obvious she couldn't see him.

He focused on the demon. _Pretty. _He observed silently before putting out his hands and blasting the sexy demon chick into the far wall. Caught unawares, she hit the wall with a loud thump and cried out in pain.

Wyatt was beside Melinda before she realized what was happening. She looked around, her eyes adjusting to the dim lighting. "Wyatt?" she croaked. He only sent her a smile before being thrown across the room. "No!"

Wyatt jumped up sizing up the competition. She did the same. He tried to attack first, trying to blow her up, but he flew into a wall before he could do anything.

Melinda got herself the rest of the way out of the ropes. She froze the demon chick as Wyatt stood again. With Melinda being so weak, she wasn't going to stay frozen long.

He ran to his sister and pulled an arm around his neck. "Can you walk?" When she sort of nodded, he coaxed her hurriedly down the hall. Once away from the room, he was able to orb them home.

- -

- He jumped ten feet when Wyatt appeared beside him with Melinda hanging off him limply. He had a death grip on her side. Chris shoved the potion into his pockets as he helped Wyatt get their sister to the couch.. She was unconscious now.

"It's a demon named Ariel." he whispered, looking at Melinda as she slept. "She has the power to force people to relive past and future evils."

Wyatt glanced at Chris. "Go insane, then?"

Chris shrugged. "It's possible."

"Could this be connected to those suicides at the Mason Apartments?"

Chris seemed to remember something. "Come with me."

- Nomed watched from the side of the house as she slept. _She's beautiful. _He thought to himself, immediately berating himself for the thought.

He saw a car pull up and Zach stepped out. The demon smiled. She was only using him. That was comforting. If at least to say that evil's destiny might actually succeed. _Every mortal has a little evil in them._

- Chris and Wyatt stood in the attic. The summoning spell sat in the open book in front of them. Just as the boys began to speak, the doorbell rang. "I'll get it." Wyatt muttered, orbing downstairs.

"Zach." he bit out cordially, as he opened the door.

Zach smiled. "Hey man. Mel around? I wanted to apologize for canceling on her. Thought she might like to get some coffee."

Wyatt shook his head. "She's sick. Just went to bed. But hey, I'll have her give you call, k?" he lied.

"Move." The voice was weak and he barely believe he'd heard it.

Wyatt turned to his sister. She looked terrible. "Five minutes." he whispered as he moved out of the way.

Zach stared at Melinda. "Wow."

"Not a good wow, I expect." she croaked, smiling.

"No. I mean-"

Melinda held up a hand. "Don't worry about it."

Zach looked past Melinda and glanced at Wyatt, who stood at the base of the stairs glaring at him. "Guess you can't get coffee?" he asked hopefully.

Wyatt and Melinda both shook their heads. "I'm really tired. But…call me tomorrow?" she asked.

Zach nodded and he kissed her cheek. At her confused look he laughed. "Might be contagious." Melinda watched as he walked down the walk to his car, got in, and drove away. She felt Wyatt behind her. "He's sweet, you know."

Wyatt shrugged. "Whatever you say." he muttered as Melinda turned and went up the stairs to bed. Orbing to the attic, he reunited with Chris behind the podium. "Let's do this."

"Hear these words and pay us mind, bring forth that we wish to see confined, our souls resigned, our destinies intertwined."

Nothing happened for a moment. Chris looked at Wyatt. "Are you sure that's the right spell?" he asked flipping back and forth. Wyatt watched as a blur of dark mist spun in a tornado like fashion.

Seconds later, Ariel appeared. She was confused and the boys took advantage, but it didn't last long. Ducking energy balls they chanted.

"Demon of darkness, demon of pain, stop yourself, end your campaign, evil limbs and evil mind, destroyed in ways of past time."

The energy balls had stopped. And the boys watched as the woman spun around screaming for a minute, before bursting climatically into tiny pieces.

Chunks of dead demon littered the floor. The boys looked over at each other before playing rock, paper, scissors in silence. Chris lost and he resigned himself to clean up duty.

- Melinda couldn't sleep. She was just as exhausted as before, but now that she had had time to relive the last few hours, she had serious problems. Wyatt watched her lay there from the door. "You aren't sleeping."

"Nope." she stated simply. She tried not to think about what she'd seen her brother do. _Is he really going to come to that?_

"Is it Ariel? What'd you see?"

Melinda rolled over and faced the door. Looking at her brother, she smiled. "I just need some rest, Wy." He nodded and walked away. _He won't turn evil. I won't let it._

- -

A/N: We all know what she saw was really the past or more technically the past's future, but she doesn't know that. What do you think??


End file.
